Career in Embedded System

Embedded Systems are becoming more and more pervasive, touching virtually all aspects of daily life. From mobile phones to automobiles, industrial equipment, to high end medical devices, home appliances etc. Embedded software today sits at the intersection of all the technologies. The growth of different industry sectors like automotive, telecommunications, aerospace, energy, industrial units, biomedical equipment, consumer goods is highly contributed by the development in the field of Embedded Systems.

According to a survey by Frost and Sullivan, an analyst firm, the embedded systems opportunity is expected to touch $360 billion ( in terms of the devices) and $36 billion in terms of the semiconductors by 2015. Another survey by NASSCOM and McKinsey predicts that the jobs in embedded space will increase ten-fold from the current 60,000 professionals to over 6 lakh people by 2015. Companies like TCS, Wipro, L&T, TATA Elexsi, Infosys, Zensar, Tech Mahindra, Patni, VOLVO, NIIT Tech, KPIT Cummins, Airbus etc. are investing heavily in their embedded systems operations in India. With that expectation, in the near future embedded computing will overtake traditional computing and that there may be more engineers working on embedded systems and related services , then on traditional IT. Experts say what IT was in 90's is where embedded systems stands now and is ready to explode. The future is bright for India with it being pegged to be the next embedded systems hub in the world.

A recent study by NASSCOM talks about the Indian Embedded Ecosystem. This ecosystem consists of all the stakeholders in embedded domain namely, the education institutions, end user industries and entrepreneurial organizations. NASSCOM suggests that there is a need to nurture this ecosystem that would catalyze innovation in the Indian embedded industry.

How do we nurture this ecosystem?

One of the means of achieving this is through forging linkages between the key pillars of the Indian ecosystem, namely client industries, academic (including education institutions and research organizations), investors, government bodies, entrepreneurs and industry bodies, all of which co-exist individually in India, but are largely insulated from each other.

The need of the hour is to stimulate innovation within this domain through knowledge sharing among all the stakeholders of the domain. There is a need of organizations to share the knowledge with academia to provide skilled/industry ready individuals to the end user industries.

Thus, if India is to emerge as the embedded systems hub it will have to proactively address the needs of the market through partnerships between industry, academia and entrepreneurial organizations. This can be done by making education and vocational training more market-driven. We need to supplement our education system with focus on job-oriented courses. Education and vocational training need to be aligned with market demand.

*Indian Semiconductor Association

What is required?

Properly educated and trained people are required in huge numbers.  Industry endorsed and University recognized specialization programs are the need of the hour. Existing UG and PG programs need to be supplemented with tailor made courses.

The education and training should be able to cater to the various hierarchical requirements of the Industry.

The industry should help the institutions and universities in terms of curriculum development and professional tie-ups and placement assistance.